


You Saved Me

by FandumbGirl



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everybody Lives, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Nobody is Dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:43:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3404321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandumbGirl/pseuds/FandumbGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek and Erica have a heart-to-heart after he saves her, Boyd, and Cora from the vault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Saved Me

Rain beat against the window. It was the perfect weather for Derek's mood. Dark, dank, and lonely. He was laying on his back staring at the ceiling. It had been a long two days. He'd stayed up almost the entirety of the past 48 hours. Usually rain would be great for helping Derek fall asleep. By all accounts he should be asleep just based on how tired he was, but the events of the night before kept running through his head. This had probably been the hardest full moon in his life.

Finding out his younger sister was alive had been overwhelming for him. When he saw her growling at him and Scott in the vault with his two missing betas, he was almost sure that she was a ghost come to haunt him for not saving his betas sooner. Her slamming into him was enough of a wake up to realize she was really there. After that, all he had time to do was try like hell to keep Cora, Boyd, and Erica from killing everyone that crossed their path. He was just glad they were able to get them all home safe without too many people getting hurt. He didn't want to come that close to having to put his betas down again.

Flashes of the last couple days went through Derek's mind. All the planning to get into the vault, only to realize they were falling into Deucalion’s trap. Trying to keep the three feral betas calm enough not to kill him and Scott, only for Allison to break the mountain ash and let them escape. He was thankful they had all ended up safe and the three betas were currently in their rooms sleeping, hopefully a lot more peacefully than Derek was. He didn’t want them to have flashes of the fights and danger of the night before running through their heads, like the memories were going through his.

Derek pushed the heel of his hands against his eyes as if that would help erase the images and memories out of his head. He knew Allison meant well, and had very likely saved all of their lives, but at the time all he had felt was anger at her. He would lay down his life if it meant that his betas never fell into the danger of possibly killing someone. No. None of his betas would ever have blue eyes. They were already fragile, if not broken, when he picked them to turn. That's why he picked them. Now it was his duty to protect them and teach them to be strong.

There was a creaking from across the room. Derek tensed and slowly turned to see what the noise was from. None of the loft's alarms had gone off, but they had been disabled before. He needed to always be prepared to fight. Prepared to protect.

His heart thudded against his chest. Adrenaline already pumping through his veins. He was ready to launch himself at the first sign of attack when movement caught his eye. The door was slowly opening and when the space was wide enough, a head of wild blonde hair stuck itself through. Derek felt his whole body relax at once.

"Derek?" Erica whispered. "Are you awake?"

"If I wasn't then I would be now." His voice was gruff with sleep and came out harsher than he meant. He immediately regretted what he said, wishing he could pull the words back in. He should know better than to lash out when his betas,when Erica, were probably still skittish.

Erica recoiled in response. "Sorry. I'll just head back to my room." She started to withdraw from the room when he called out for her to wait.

He pushed himself to sit up against his headboard. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. Come in. I was already awake anyway. If you are creeping around this late, something must be wrong." Derek clamped his teeth together so quickly they clacked. He knew he was rambling from his tiredness and had to force himself to stop. He hated when he got like that and rarely allowed anyone to see that nervous side of him.

Erica came further into the room, closing the door behind her. When she stepped fully in, Derek saw she was in her pajamas, consisting of only a camisole and a very short and tight pair of gym shorts. He forced his eye back to her face, determined not to look at her body no matter how tempting it was or how much he wanted to.

It worried him that he was more worried about Erica getting back safely than he was about Boyd. He cared about both of his betas, but there was something about Erica that rang differently for him. As it was it would be a hard press for him if he had to choose between saving his long-absent younger sister and this female beta. 

He didn't want his mind going that way though. She was too young. Her mind sitting too precariously on the edge from all the trauma from her life before turning and the dangers of life after. They were all lucky this didn't push her over the edge.

She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over her, effectively hiding the miles of legs Derek had previously been admiring. "So what's wrong?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Derek cringed. It was obvious what was wrong.

Erica incredulous look confirms that he is an idiot. "What's wrong? You have no guesses at all on what could be wrong with the girl who went feral after being locked in a bank vault for three months?" she hissed.

Derek looked down at his hands. He hated not knowing how to react to things. He was never known to be great with emotional things and it only got worse after the fire. After he lost almost everyone he loved to the stupidity of his own lust. "Look, I don't know what you want me to say. Yeah I know you went through some shit, but I-I don't know." His head fell in his hand and ran his fingers through his hair. "I just want to know you are okay and if you aren't what I can do to help."

Erica sat in silence, looking directly ahead, refusing to look at Derek. Tears started welling up in her eyes, even as she fought, refused to let them fall. Her voice was quiet when she started talking. "I used to think my seizure were the worst thing I would ever go through. The pain. The frustration of having no control over your own body. It's horrible. But now I know being unable to transform, and having all of that- that rage and pain build up inside you until you think you are going to explode, but you don't...Instead it just continues to build, until that one night it is allowed to be let out." Erica sighed. Her voice was breaking from the emotions fluctuating inside her.

"You probably have no idea what it is like having no control over your wolf. You were born one and never had to experience the change." She risked a glance at him from the corner of her eye and saw that he was still staring down at his hands gripping the sheets. She averted her eyes back to the wall. "It's the worse feeling you could ever imagine. To be stuck in your own mind, and unable to regain control over your body. I wouldn't wish the experience on my worst enemy."

Erica shivered despite the heat of the night. The motion caught Derek's attention and he slid over to put his arm around her shoulders. He gathered her close to his side, hugging her, trying to give her what little comfort he could.

"I'm sorry." The whisper startled Erica. "I am so sorry. If it wasn't for me, Deucalion would never have taken an interest in you. If I hadn't given you the bite, you wouldn't have been pulled into this crazy life."

Midway through his apology, Erica started shaking her head against his chest. "No, Derek. You don't understand. You saved my life."

Derek opened his mouth to object. Erica started speaking again before he could get a word out. "My life was horrible. I was lonely and sick and couldn't stand to even look in the mirror. That last seizure I had? It was the last thing I could handle. One more incident of kids laughing and pointing at me. I was planning on cleaning out my locker that Friday and..."

Her voice broke into sobs.

"You don't have to go on. I-"

Her spine stiffened. "No I have to go on. I have to tell this story, so you can understand that you mean the world to me." She turned to look him in the eye. The bright blue of her eyes, swimming in tears yet to be shed.

Her voice was strangled. "I was going to kill myself. It was all planned. I would get home from school on Friday and in the hours between school ending and my parents getting home I would take an entire bottle of Oxcarbazepine. I hoped that it would put me in a sleep I would never wake up from." She let out a bitter laugh. "I appreciated the irony behind it. Epilepsy ruined my life and the medicine that was supposed to help, I was going to use to end it.

"But then this strange, handsome, somewhat creepy," she smirked at him, a hint of her usual humor coming back, "man came up to me with a strange offer. It was almost, as if I had suddenly fallen into a fairy tale. Except this time the big bad wolf was my savior instead of the villain. Derek, you literally saved my life."

"I don't know what to say."

"There's nothing for you to say. Just know I owe you my life and would happily die for you. But that doesn't mean there isn't any inherent mental crap for me to get through."

"So tell me what I can do to help." Derek was visibly earnest. Erica smiled at him. This is the alpha she hoped for after the bite. Sure the self-confidence boost and getting rid of all the medical issues was a bonus, but what she really wanted was the friendship, family, companionship.

"For now just hold me. Be there for me. I can mostly handle this by myself. I've done that for most of my life. But there will probably be times that I can't hold it all together. And those will be the times I need you. The times you may have to catch me before I fall to pieces."

"I'll always be there to catch you."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you when it comes to your betas."

Derek shook his head. "No. It's not because you are my beta, Erica. I care about you. Betas are important, yes. And yes I probably turned you all for the wrong reason. But I have come to care about you."

Erica blinked. "I-I care about you too. Probably more than I should."

Derek leaned down slowly, giving her plenty of time to move away if she wanted to. She didn't.

As far as kisses go, it was fairly chaste. More a slight pressure of her soft, plump lips against his dry, chapped ones. It was more than enough to show each other how they felt though, and for now that was enough. There was no way Erica was anywhere near ready for more than that.

She adjusted herself, burrowing further into the sheets and twisting around so she was the little spoon against Derek. He tentatively put his arms around her and pulled her close. The warmth of his body relaxed Erica. Maybe with his help things would actually start looking up.

Erica allowed herself a small smile before closing her eyes and falling asleep feeling protected in his arms.


End file.
